feel the burn(out)

Katara from ATLA

Welp, you all won’t believe what I stayed up to 2 am working on!

Anyway, have an aroace themed Project Hail Mary cover. I tried to keep a good chunk of the OG cover design (because I actually really like it) and just added in some fun additions to it~

But I don’t know - when I started work, many decades ago, it was expected you’d start at 9, finish at 5. You’d get your lunch break. You are expected to give about 70% of yourself the majority of your time. The last hour of each day and Friday afternoon were quiet times. There was time in the day to hang out with your coworkers for ten minutes talking about anything, not just work.

Now you’re expected to come in early and leave late and work through lunch. Give 100% all the time, more if you can push it. Don’t take leave. Work every second of every day as hard as you can push yourself. Do not waste time in the kitchen just chatting. Why aren’t you working harder?

And perhaps we’re burning out and take massive amounts of stress leave not because we’re not keeping a gratitude journal but because we are all being pushed to breaking point consistently, day after day, until we snap.

The older days weren’t perfect. But there was an understanding that work wasn’t life, and we could relax a little at work and still get paid enough to live. Now we are expected to give everything we’ve got, then give more, and not get paid enough to do something as simple as get a coffee after work. Even our hobbies are supposed to be monetised.

So, volume 2 was truly a masterclass is self-destruction. and nothing made sense. Why spend YEARS focusing on building up characters and their relationships to each other to just burn it all down at the 11th hour?

Ross then goes on to say that he wanted it to represent how "none of his crushes ever worked out" and thought people needed to see that portrayed.

His wife of 9 years filed for divorce February of 2024. 9 years spans the lifetime of the show. There's no doubt that that relationship had a heavy influence on his writing. But now, he's hurt and bitter and he's taking it out on the characters we've all grown to love.

He's pushing a narrative that is so destructive to everything that he and his brother and the entire crew built up-- he's tearing down Castle Byers after a fight.

He's tearing the characters apart from each other after 9 years of build-up.

This isn't about "shipping." This is about "I'm not happy. So no one should be, because that's the representation I need."

I dont care what/ who you ship. Nobody wins here. Nobody is happy.

Dustin used to carry such a strong and powerful heart in the show and instead of working through his grief in a meaningful way, he just hurts and hurts others.

Mike is emotionally checked out of every relationship. He doesn't seem to care about El, Holly, Will, Nancy, Dustin or Lucas. He was the "heart" of the party and now that heart is no where to be found.

Jonathan was ready to propose to Nancy, and yet when they are literally about to die, they decide to break up in the least clear way possible. Who does that? These may be our last moments and instead of holding the person you love close, you decide to make things worse?

Will went from being empowered and not needing the approval and approval of others to find his inner strength, to then sitting the entire cast of characters down and begging for their approval and acceptance.

Not one on one, confiding something intimate and personal. Just a press conference that no one asked for.

This season is not about "accurate representation" for anyone but Ross Duffer.

So now I'm shipping everyone. Everyone deserves to be able to find love and comfort in their fantasy settings. Don't let one bitter man undo that.